Die for cutting and impressing relatively thin leather



Dec. 2 2, 1953 DIE FOR CUTTING AND IMPRESSING RELATIVELY THIN LEATHER Filed April 23, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l A I i 28 3 s2 28 26 I 29 l aml: H" 1" \Q 3O 24 I; 34

o 2o 4 P I (I 7 l4 I I I l2 o H' II II]: 36 IN 38 I! III I INVENTOR. LEO/YARD E. BENEDICT ATTORNEY.

L. E. BENEDICT 2, 80 I I Dec. 22, 1953 T 2,663,180

DIE FOR CUTTING AND IMPRESSING RELATIVELYTHIN LEATHER Filed April 23, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m wx 28 54 4 4o 4K4 2% I 36 26 I l b 36*"? 36 20* I 2 i o 14 60 I638 U I 14 l8 2b /&\ \w

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m I in Fl 5 4 INVENTOR.

LEONARD EBB/ 501m- ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 22, 1953 DIE FOR CUTTING AND IMPRESSING RELATIVELY THIN LEATHER Leonard E. Benedict, We

to Amity Leather Pro st Bend, Wis., assignor ducts 00., West Bend,

Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application April 23, 1952, Serial No.283,954

3 Claims.

This invention relates to leather manufactures. and particularly to dies for cutting and' impressing relatively thin leather such as is used in the personal leather goods industry.

It has been the practice in this industry to en hance the appearance of the finished product by embossing or impressing a line in the grain surface adjacent an exposed raw edge. This line, frequently referred to as an edge crease line, was first made by a hand creasing iron manually forced along the raw edge. This produced an excellent appearing edge crease line but the operation was costly. In order to offset such cost the cutting blade of the blanking die was provided with a rigid shoulder having an embossing ridge spaced slightly from the knife. This ridge impressed a line in the grain surface of the leather with each cut of the blade. However, scrap loss was high whenever the thickness of the leather varied a few thousandths of an inch from the standard for which such blanking and embossing die were designed. If the thickness increased'over standard, the ridge would go too deep and break the grain surface or even tear the leather. If the thickness decreased under the standard the ridge would not make any perceptible crease line. Where the leather used is relatively thin the percentage of skins, which are under or over the acceptable limits of thickness, increases and the manufacturer of the articles has enough scrap to make the use of such rigid dies uneconomical.

It is an object of this invention therefore'to provide a die for both cutting and impressing leather which will make a consistently uniform impression or crease line'in such leather even when the thickness of the leather varies from the standard thickness for such die.

This object is obtained by mounting a creasing or embossing ridge adjacent the cutter blade of the die and providing such ridge with spring resisted movement relative to such cutting blade. The spring resistance is strong enoughto provide sufiicient force to make a permanent crease line in the grain face of the leather being cut by the cutting blade and weak enough to permit the creasing ridge to move relatively to the cutting blade to prevent such ridge from impressing such grain face beyond that required for such permanent crease line as said cutting blade advances through such leather to complete the cutting thereof.

The novel features, which are considered characteristic of the invention, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The inven- 2 tion itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a View in front elevation with parts broken away and shown in section of a cutting and embossing die embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the die viewed in Fig. 1 with parts broken away for clarity in illustration.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 showing the relative position of the parts of the die when uncompressed.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the relative position of the parts when completely depressed by the press in which it is mounted.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the relation of the embossing ridge and cutting blade in the final stage of cutting and embossing a piece of leather, and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a piece of leather cut, embossed and punched by the simultaneous action of the cutting and embossing die.

The cutting and embossing die illustrated in the drawings is mounted in a press of well known design used in the leather goods industry. In this press the die is mounted on the lower member of the press and the leather 4, together with a paper backing 5, is fed over the die while the upper member 8 of the press forces the leather and paper down on the working surfaces of the die.

In this particular embodiment the die has a mounting plate i2 which is secured in customary manner to the bed plate ill of the press. A gripper plate I4 is movably mounted on the mounting plate l8 by guide posts It which limit the upward motion of the gripper plate. The plate is continually urged upwardly by compression springs l8 encircling the guide posts. These springs are of sufiicient force to support the weight of the die and yet will readily give as the leather 5 is initially pressed downwardly on the die by the upper member 8 of the press. springs thus furnish enough tension to hold the leather 4 and paper 6 in proper location between the embossing ridge of the die and the upper member of the-press. When the working load isasserted by the press the springs it will be completely compressed and the gripper plate I4 will be flatly supported by the mounting plate 52;

A table or die supporting plate 24 is fixedly These mounted in spaced relation to the gripper plate i i by pillars 2 3, to which it is held by machine screws extending upwardly from the plate It through the pillars 2t and into the table 24. The table 2% provides a support for the cutting die it which is held thereon by machine screws 38. The cutting die 25 has a projection forming a cutting blade 23. This projection has a substantially straight inner wall 223 which provides a bearing and guide for the relatively movable embossing die. Locating pins 32; projecting from the table B l lit in holes in the cutting die 26 to properly locate it on such table. The configuration of the blade 28 may lee-varied as desired and dies with various shapes of blades may be inter changeably mounted. on the table 24.

As previously pointed out, the cutting blade- 28 formerly had a shoulder with an embossing ridge spaced slightly downward from the cutting edge of the die. Since there was no relative movement between the embossing. ridge and the cutting edge, the die would only act satisfactorily with leathers of a standard thickness for which such die was designed; To correct this, an embossing die id is mounted above the table 2% and carried by a movable plate M supported beneath such table. Pins 3% projecting upwardly from such plate through the table 24 guide the plate 34 and also support the embossing die which is held thereon by screws M. Heavy compression springs 38 press the plate it upwardly against the under surface of the table 2t and keep the die it spaced from such table. The embossing die ib has an upstanding part the-top oi which is slightly rounded to form an embossing ridge 42. The outer side of this part is in slidable engagement with the wall 29 to properly locate the ridge 42 slightly spaced from the cutting edge or the blade 2% as is shown in Fig; 5. However, the embossing die may also be guided in proper relation to the cutting die by pins 48 which project from the table 24 and are slidably received in holes in the embossing die.

re the extended position of the embossing die, the ridge it extends slightly above the cutting edge of the blade 28 and hence when the leather 4 and paper backing B are urged downward by the upper member 8 after the gripper plate it has been fully depressed, the embossing die 43 will be lowered against the'force in the springs 35%. This force is enough to drive the ridge e2 into the leather 4 from the grain side a depthsurficient to make a permanent groove therein. However, such force is weak enough to permit the embossing die ll) to move downwardly with respect to the cutting blade 26 as the upperinemher 8 continues downwardly to complete the cutting of the leather. At the lowest point in the down stroke of the upper member 8 the embossing die 40 is still spaced from the table 24 as shown in Fig. l. Hence only'the force in the springs 33 is used to make a creasing line. If the thickness of the leather 4 be greater than the standard for such die, the embossing. die 40 will be moved downwardly closer to the plate 2 3 and still no force except that applied by the springs will be added. Thus the depth of the c'reas'ing'line' will remain constant even though the thickness of the leather varies and the percentage of scrap due to incomplete creasing lines or creasing'line's deep enough to damage the leather is removed. A sample of a piece of leather cut to a desired shape and provided with a creased line by the cutting and embossing die herein described is illustrated in Fig. 6 wherein the numeral l indicates the crease line. In some pieces the crease line need not extend for the entire length or the raw edge. In such instance the embossing die M! is provided with a differently dimensioned ridge. Embossing dies with ridges 42 of different shapes may be interchangeably mounted on the pins 36. While in this embodiment there are two heavy compression springs 38, such number may be increased where the length of the embossing ridge 42 is materially increased in order to maintain a constant force per inch or" length of such ridge.

Insome instances it may be desirable to provide a punched hole within the piece of leather be'i ngcut, such as is illustrated at 52 in Figs. 4 and 6'. To accomplish this a base at is mounted man appropriate aperture in the embossing die 40 and secured to the table 25 by a screw 52. A tubular cutting die 5% is carried by the base 513 with its cutting edge projecting to substantially the same level as the edge of the cutting blade 28. This die will cut a circular disk from the pieceof leather 3 each time a piece is cut by the cutting die. An ejector pin 5% may be mounted within the tubular die 54 to eject the disks cut by such die. The pin 56 has a collar 53 positioned below the supporting plate 34 and urged upwardly with respect thereto by a coil compression spring 61) acting between such collar and the gripper plate M. The pin till is depressed as'the hole is cut and after the upper member 3 is raised, the spring force will push the pin tiii up and eject the slug from within the end of the tubular die 54. Punches of this type may be located at any desired spot within the confines of the cutting die.

Although only one embodiment of the invention is shown and described herein, it will be understood that this application is intended to cover suchchanges or modifications as come within thespirit ofthe invention or scope or" the following claims.

I claim:

1'. A die for both cutting and impressing leather comprising a table adapted for removably re ceiving a cutting die, a relatively fixed plate on which said table is supported, a movable plate between said table and said fixed plate, mount pins on said movable plate extending throng openings in said table, a cutting die on said l an embossing die on said pins and normally spaced from said table, and spring means between said fixed plate and said movable plate to resiliently maintain said embossing die spaced from said table.

2; A die as claimed in claim 1 in which said spring means will compress to allow said embossing die to move toward said table under force insufficient to cause said embossing die to cut or break the fibre of leather being impressed thereby.

3. A die as claimed in claim 1 in which said cutting die has a cutting edge and said embossing diehas an embossing ridge spaced outwardly of said cutting edge when said spring means holds sai-dmovable plate against said table.

LEONARD E. BENEDICT.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 771,669 Schneegass Oct. 4, 1904 1,661,807 Messner Mar. 6, 1928 1,689,633 Lupien Oct. 30, 1928 1,848,821 Blakely Mar. 8, 1932 1,901,575 Altvater Mar. 14, 1933 

